With illnesses, injuries, inconsiderate trips away and idiotic excuses for absence, Wetherby travelled to Halifax with an under-strength squad which would test their strength in depth. Sean Lally started in the front row ahead of Bradley Mason, whose training uptake recently has been like his salad uptake: non-existent. Only a committed few fans made the journey to Ovenden Park. Club captain Danny Warden decided to stay in Wetherby to watch his new comrades in the crusaders, a fact he was told numerous times on Saturday night. It must be said that the sight of tears trickling down his waxy, disjointed nose was oddly mesmerising.

The early stages of the match saw Wetherby the brighter of the two sides. After Jack Kaye was bundled into touch early in the game, the Wetherby pack put pressure on the Halifax set piece. The Halifax line-out was slapped behind their own line and touched down, giving a five metre scrum to Wetherby. The new look front row held the ball in for the familiar sight of a pushover try for George Gilbert, only for him to claim he'd done all the hard work by controlling the ball. Curious chap.

Wetherby continued to exert pressure on the Halifax scrum with Stephen Hoather's go-go-gadget legs hooking back the ball at every Halifax put in. Neat play down the left-hand side by the Wetherby outside backs led to the first try of the day for Myles Oates. Half of #TeamBlueEyes was missing this week, and Myleypoo's performance improved dramatically. In the words of the great Sinatra "Ol' blue eyes is back".

Wetherby continued to pressurise the Halifax set piece and despite strong running from their captain at number 8, the Wetherby defence was organised and solid. With ball in hand Wetherby looked threatening and maintained possession well in the forwards. Lionheart scrum-half Harry Kaye sniped from the back of a breakdown and generously put Conor Sheridan under the posts to score. He put some hard graft in to trying to score later that evening too, but no chickens came home to roost.

As the game neared half-time, play broke up. Alex Dus showed he paid close attention to the Ronan O'Gara school of fly-halves, with only good place kicking saving his dreadful haircut and invisible defence. Halifax dealt with the unstructured play better and nearly exploited the open spaces out wide. A fantastic cover tackle from Jack Kaye stopped the Halifax surge. Matt Harrison and the evergreen, ever-strange Frank Pitchford brought huge physicality; and the line speed of a back row led by Tom Edwards and James Greenwood kept Halifax out until half time. Special mention to Matt who played the whole game with a broken wrist! How bad is your cold again Bradley?

Wetherby made a bright start to the second half and a more structured pattern delivered just rewards through early tries to Myleypoo and Jack Kaye. Details of tries have to be played down by the woeful finishing from the Wetherby wingers. For all Wetherby's fifty points, at least four tries were left out there! How is it possible that Andrew Trotman can pass perfectly behind his back but can't pass normally?

There were some exceptional skills on display from Wetherby, with the versatility of the forwards being shown. Jonah Hill lookalike Stephen Hoather learnt from mishaps earlier in the season to use an overlap properly and set Jack Kaye in for his second try of the day. It was a nice end to the week for Jack whose acne has been particularly prevalent this week! He really needs to take a little care in his appearance, doesn't he own a mirror?

Elliott Lloyd Kinsey Griffiths promoted his claim to move from loosehead prop to fly-half by picking up a loose pass and passing the ball through his legs to create a two-on-one. Wetherby continued with their pressure and excellent retention of possession. The high-tempo style started to tell on the opposition in the later stages and when the referee awarded a penalty inside the Halifax 22, myleypoo took it quickly and crossed for his hat-trick.

Despite a generally strong performance from the referee, his time-keeping was a mystery. Five minutes after saying there were fifteen minutes to play, he said there were seventeen minutes to play. Clearly he's been taking Bradley's maths classes! The delays in working out the time remaining meant that darkness closed in over the ground and the last ten minutes was played under the 3 out of 6 floodlights.

Wetherby's stout and resolute defence held firm even in the dark and they managed to work one last foray into the Halifax 22. A tap penalty allowed 6 foot 8, 19 stone* monster Jonny Day smash into the Halifax defence and present quick ball for Myleypoo to score his fourth try of the afternoon. A fine ending to a fine performance and an incredible 2015 for Wetherby. Final score: Wetherby 52-0 Halifax
*measurements not verified

MoM: James Greenwood - the real Jim shady played like he only had one shot, one opportunity. A faultless display.

DoD: Will Jefferson - He had a 3-on-1 down the left hand side but unfortunately the lights were on but nobody was home. Rodney trotter took the ball into contact and knocked it forward, butchering a simple try.

Things learnt from 2015:
- Myles is still a talented rugby player when he washes the thumb mark from his forehead.
- The lion always catches the wildebeest.
- If in doubt, pass the ball to Conor.
- Pictures taken when drunk, should be left to be reconsidered when sober.

Merry Christmas, Happy new year, and here's to another successful year in 2016!